Revelers standing on Seventh Avenue watch the annual Pride Parade on June 24, 2018 in New York City. The first gay pride parade in the U.S. was held in Central Park on June 28, 1970. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

Revelers take part in the annual Pride Parade on June 24, 2018 in New York City. The first gay pride parade in the U.S. was held in Central Park on June 28, 1970. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

Revelers standing on Seventh Avenue watch the annual Pride Parade on June 24, 2018 in New York City. The first gay pride parade in the U.S. was held in Central Park on June 28, 1970. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

A member of the New York City Fire Department receives a proposal of marriage at the annual Pride Parade on June 24, 2018 in New York City. The first gay pride parade in the U.S. was held in Central Park on June 28, 1970. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

Revelers watch the annual Pride Parade on June 24, 2018 in New York City. The first gay pride parade in the U.S. was held in Central Park on June 28, 1970. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

A dog attends the V8 Pride Fest on June 24, 2018 in New York City. #V8energy (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for V8+Energy )

Revelers take part in the annual Pride Parade on June 24, 2018 in New York City. The first gay pride parade in the U.S. was held in Central Park on June 28, 1970. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

An Indian supporter of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community takes part in a pride parade in in Chennai on June 24, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / ARUN SANKARARUN SANKAR/AFP/Getty Images

Revelers take part in the annual Pride Parade on June 24, 2018 in New York City. The first gay pride parade in the U.S. was held in Central Park on June 28, 1970. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

A reveller shows off his hat mirroring President Trump's campaign slogan Make America Great Again at the annual Pride Parade on June 24, 2018 in New York City. The first gay pride parade in the U.S. was held in Central Park on June 28, 1970. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

Cynthia Nixon, center right, marches holding hand with her partner during the New York City Pride Parade on Sunday, June 24, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Dayana Pirr, left, and her sister Yoana Pirr, second from left, both visiting from Venezuela, react as they watch the Gay Pride Parade make its way down New York's Seventh Avenue Sunday June 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)

A reveler attends the annual Pride Parade on June 24, 2018 in New York City. The first gay pride parade in the U.S. was held in Central Park on June 28, 1970. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

Revelers on the amfAR amazon float as amfAR Celebrates NYC Pride 2018 on June 24, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images)

More than 240 contingents, including floats, groups and other participants, took part. As in previous years, the parade was led by Dykes on Bikes, San Francisco’s venerable group of lesbian motorcycle enthusiasts.

It took about five hours to wind through the city and concluded with a Civic Center celebration, where organizers said people could dance, mingle and “celebrate queer San Francisco.”

Celebration mixed with defiance at New York City’s annual march for gay pride.

The crowds packed the streets for the Heritage of Pride march, with rainbow flags out in force.

Onlookers said this year’s event felt more like a protest than in past years.

Connecticut resident Olivia Nadler said, “People that are oppressed are not going to go away, they’re not going to be quiet, they’re not going to be ignored.”

The march was one of a number of LGBT events in cities around the world. They commemorate the riots that erupted in response to a police raid at a New York gay bar called the Stonewall Inn in June 1969.

Tennis legend Billie Jean King was one of the grand marshals of New York City’s gay pride march.

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